The decision by the Supreme Court on Friday to hear two same-sex-marriage cases surprised few people.
“The fact it took both cases is great,” said , a statewide advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. “The real point is that we’re seeing — in court after court, poll after poll — the American public has really shifted on the issue of recognition and protection for gay couples.”
deals with California’s Proposition 8, which overturned a California Supreme Court decision to allow same-sex marriages. United States vs. Windsor takes on which defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
“It was inevitable that they were going to be part of it,” said state Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, who helped put a successful measure outlawing gay marriage on Colorado’s state ballot in 2006. “The Supreme Court is wading into a pretty major issue that has impacted states and individuals in a huge way.”
The , and it is expected to pass because Republicans who killed the bill last year lost control of the House, and Gov. John Hickenlooper supports it.
“I will defend marriage as between one man and one woman because that’s how it’s been established and has been practiced for millennia,” said Lundberg.
In a statement, Democratic Congressman Jared Polis of Boulder, who is gay, said equality before the law is the key issue in the court cases.
“The Court can put to rest the notion that second-class citizenry is acceptable in America by striking down DOMA and ensuring that discrimination is removed from California’s state Constitution,” he said.
